Share The Struggle
Share The Struggle
Dunkin' Dilemmas & Using Courage To Make Decisions 235
As we journey through this episode, we also confront some big questions about the future of the podcast. I open up about concerns over declining listenership and the commitment to keep making a difference as long as it resonates with our community. Through my candid reflections, I invite you to connect, share feedback, and help shape the future of our shared journey. These episodes are a testament to the everyday challenges and triumphs we all face, and your support remains the heartbeat of our podcasting adventure.
The episode takes a bold stance on courage, urging you to step out of your comfort zone just as I contemplate expanding my brand into new territories. Whether it's balancing family life with business aspirations the underlying theme is courage. With strategic planning and an unyielding passion, I set ambitious goals for Loud Proud American, aiming to make this year a landmark one. Join me on social media to be a part of this exciting journey, and let's build a legacy together, fueled by courage and shared dreams.
• Shocking and frustrating customer service experience shared
• Reflection on last week's guiding words and exercises
• Correlation between discomfort in conversations and personal growth
• The significance of courage in business decisions and personal life
• Setting and pursuing goals for 2025 through guiding words
• Practical tips on how to cultivate courage in everyday life
• Importance of community and shared struggles in personal growth
• Encouragement for listeners to identify and share their guiding words
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On last week's episode of Share the Struggle podcast, we were identifying our guiding words for 2025. One week later, that guiding word is already coming alive. Join me today as I lean into some courage. But before we go down that road of positivity, I absolutely have to share with you one of the most ridiculous customer service incidents that I just went through, one that left me lashing out just a bit outside of my character. All that and more on today's episode of Share the Struggle Podcast. Let me tell you something Everybody struggles. The difference is some people choose to go through it and some choose to grow through it. The choice is completely you If you have a relationship that is comfortable with uncomfortable conversations.
Speaker 1:Uncomfortable conversations challenge you, humble you and they build you. When you sprinkle a little time and distance on it, it all makes sense. Most disagreements, they stem from our own insecurities. You are right where you need to be. I'll take on what I find. I'll rescue my friends. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. What it do, what it do, hot diggity dog. Do I have some ridiculousness to share with you? Boy, I'm still a little hot and bothered y'all. I am still a little hot under the collar. Okay, I'm a little fired up today. But before we get into what's got me all fired up, I want to say thank you. Thank you for tuning in, thank you for listening to the podcast proudly sponsored by, brought to you by Loud Proud American. The podcast precisely perfectly named Share the Struggle because everybody struggles. Today is episode 235. That means we've been getting together and keeping it live for 235 consecutive weeks of Share the Struggle podcast. Don't forget to find all things podcast related over to wwwsharethestrugglepodcastcom.
Speaker 1:In the year 2025. I truly hope to bring to you some of the best shows that I can possibly bring to you, and I set a goal for this show to double down on the growth for this show, I'm going to give our podcast, our audience, this little positive tribe we're building the best that I possibly can. I'm going to give you what I have and I'm going to put it all on the line to to grow the show this year. Try to do some different things this year. That's a new year's resolution for the show. This year, if it does not end off where we want it to, if we lose sight of it throughout the year or the year wraps up shy of where we want it to be, then I've decided to end share the struggle podcast for what we want it to be, then I've decided to end Shade of the Struggle podcast for what we know it to be the weekly episodic show, the continuous week after week podcast episode.
Speaker 1:I will change the direction of the podcast and make it more of an occasional show, one where we kind of swoop in with updates, maybe an occasional story, some laughter, and continue to provide a legacy, one that can live on, that really encapsulates the journey of the business, the brand and raising Little Paisley Reign. Because I've always said one of the biggest benefits of this show is having a history, a history of us, the brand myself, the lessons, the lifetime. Because if I could go back right now and listen to stories from my old man, from my brother, from my grandfather, I would love it. It would mean so much to me. So I want to always have these episodes living on living life on the internet for anybody to tune into when they need a voice of reason or some strength, but to also provide that history for my family, the history of me and my loved ones, and my journey have a week to week show. This show takes a tremendous toll on, uh, on myself, on the family. I lean in to help from you know, from Allie, to join the show, for my mother to watch the little one, things like that being on the road recording from from campers, from, you know, inside of vehicles, all the sacrifices that we make to keep this show coming on week to week. I will continue to do that. I will continue to sacrifice, I will continue to lean into this show if I hear from each and every one of you that you are continuing to enjoy this show.
Speaker 1:We've seen some growth in random areas all throughout the country and outside of this country that are tremendous and it's what I have been leaning into to keep the show alive. But week after week, we have noticed fewer and fewer listeners of the podcast. So if there's something that I'm doing or not doing that is preventing you from coming back and there is something that you would like to hear on the show to make you want to always come back, please let me know. If you see a benefit from this show, then help it grow. Share the show with somebody you know, Help this podcast grow, because if it does grow and I do see that everybody is continuing to benefit from these stories from me then I absolutely wholeheartedly 1000% will continue to commit myself and my time and my efforts to this show. If I know it's landing on people out there and making a difference, then I will continue to bare my soul with this show.
Speaker 1:But I've just noticed over the past five or six months we continue to be losing listenership and it saddens me. I don't come on here to have this massive audience of popularity. I do it to know that people are getting a benefit from it and recently I just have not heard from as many of you and I've seen week after week we seem to be losing listeners on the show. So I just wanted to put that out there. I didn't plan this little conversation. So I guess this is something that I've been stewing on for some time and I just wanted to put that out there. I didn't plan this little conversation, so I guess this is something that you know I've been stewing on for some time and I just haven't mentioned it because I just continue to tune in and plug in Because, like I've said, I hear from some of you week after week and it makes me want to keep on doing this and I think about Little Paisley Rain someday 10, 15, 20 years from now being able to go back and listen to these episodes, 15, 20 years from now being able to go back and listen to these episodes.
Speaker 1:I know the benefit that has been here from some of these shows, the strength it gives people, the courage it gives people, which is where we're headed today. Some of these stories you know like the legacy of my father and my loved ones that I've shared. I want that to always live on and I will always commit to keeping the show, to helping this show grow. But it just gets harder and harder to do it each week if I just feel like people aren't listening anymore. So that's a sad confessional.
Speaker 1:I didn't plan that one y'all. I don't even have a Cabela's catalog around me. I didn't put my hand on the catalog, I didn't put my beagle eyes to the sky. That just came out. That just came out. But it probably came out because I'm fired up. I am, I'm hot and bothered. I'm some kind of fired up. I want to share with you a recent and I mean very recent, as in within the past hour little customer service experience that I had. That has me right derailed.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here's a scenario. Let me set the scene for you. I have a Dunkin' Donuts addiction. You've heard it. If you've been listening to the show, you've heard me talk about it. My wife brings it up.
Speaker 1:I have recently been scaling back on my Dunkin's visits. I'm traditionally a two visits per day guy. I've got that down to a one visit per day most days, with the occasional two visits maybe like on a weekend or on a day where you just absolutely need it. Now one of those two day scenarios has been Tuesday and Thursday. And the Tuesday Thursday double cup scenario is because I bring my mom to work at 5.30 in the morning. So when I go through the drive-thru at 5.30, same Dunkin' Donuts not the Dunkin' Donuts that I like to traditionally go to. This one just happens to be closer to my mom's work.
Speaker 1:We go through this Dunkin' Donuts twice a week, four times a week, I should say two days a week. On Tuesday we go through there at 5.30 in the morning. I order a large iced coffee for me, a large iced coffee for the wife and a medium hot coffee for my mom. When my mom gets out of work at two o'clock I pick her up and we return through that drive-thru line and we get one more large iced coffee for me and one more medium hot coffee for my mom. So we go there twice a week and in the twice a week scenario, what's that? 10 cups of coffee. Does that sound right? So 10 cups of coffee from this one Dunkin Donuts twice a week?
Speaker 1:Now, traditionally they give awful service. Nobody ever wants to talk to you. There's a lady there that will take your order and then when you get to the counter, she literally half the time won't even tell you what the bill is, just waits for you to read the screen. But she'll tell you 1223, 770, and you would give them the money or have them scan the app. And if they have to give change back, she doesn't say here you go. She doesn't say change, she doesn't say thank you, she doesn't hand the coffee out the window and say you're welcome or thanks, or have a nice day. Nothing Doesn't even communicate, just drops things and lets you leave.
Speaker 1:Okay, I've come accustomed to receiving poor service. I've come accustomed to, of the 10 cups of coffee you get through there in a week, that maybe two or three of them are going to be good, maybe two or three of them are going to be manageable, but you're going to have the rest of them just be abysmal. Okay, it is what it is. I don't know why this is something that we just agreed upon. This needs to happen so frustrating right Now. Three coffees in the morning, that ends up being $12.23, and then $7.70 for the afternoon rush. So let's say, $20 a day, two days a week for this one location. So 40 bucks a week right Now, that's a couple hundred dollars a month just to this one location. Just spelling this out there because I'm kind of painting a picture here.
Speaker 1:This afternoon I come through the drive-thru lane. I am driving my dad's pickup truck. It is a single cab, long bed pickup truck. It is me, my mother and little Paisley. Paisley's in the truck with me and where her car seat goes it covers the cup holders. There's no cup holder option. So when I have the baby, if I'm drinking my coffee, I have one hand to drive, one hand to drink coffee. Sometimes my mom has my coffee and I'm helping the baby with one hand, driving with the other. Or my mom is working with the baby with one hand drinking a coffee with the other. I'm driving with one and drinking a coffee. I'm painting a picture here. Okay, bear with me.
Speaker 1:So we get in line. Me and Allie text each other back and forth while I'm in line at Dunkin'. So now there's a time stamp in my phone based off of how long I've been in line or when I arrived at the Dunkin' line. So I'm waiting. There's not many cars, there's maybe five cars in the entire drive-thru lane and I realize, man, I've been in this line for at least 10 or 15 minutes and I haven't ordered a coffee yet. So we get up there, I order the coffee. We move, you know, four pesos ahead, sitting there, sitting there, I look at my mom and I said, man, how long have we been in this freaking line? I feel like we've been in here forever. I go back to my phone and I look at the text message and I see the timestamp and I tell my mom like wow, we've been in this line already for like 22 minutes. Right, crazy, crazy to sit in line for 20 plus minutes for now. Maybe five cars in front of you, if that.
Speaker 1:So I turn the corner. I can see the window and I'm still waiting and waiting, and waiting. We get up to the window. They don't come to the window, they're just walking around doing whatever. There's like six employees in there. I look at my clock and I tell my mother we are two minutes away from 30 minutes. Two minutes away from 30 minutes in the drive-thru lane. There's nobody in the lobby. The lady comes to the window, opens the window and tells me $7.27. And I give her my cash and she turns around and I realize $7.27, it's normally $7.70 for the bill. I know that a mistake's been made, but she shut the window and she's gone off to making coffee and doing whatever.
Speaker 1:We continue to wait, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Time Waiting, waiting, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Time Waiting, waiting, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.
Speaker 1:Baby Starting to get fussy. We've been sitting here and doing nothing. She's starting to complain and fuss and she's no longer happy in the car seat. So we're waiting and we're waiting. I tell my mom I think they made me a hot coffee Because the bill. So lady comes to the window, she's fussing around looking at things and I tell my mom screw it, we paid for the hot coffee. I'm going to drink a hot coffee at this point because you know, I just I'm not going to wait any longer.
Speaker 1:She gives me my mom's coffee. And then she goes to hand me the hot coffee and she starts to read off the order and she hands it to me as I take it into the truck and she says milk, m-i-l-k. And I said, oh, there's milk in this. I said oat milk. And she says no, whole milk. I said, oh, I ordered oat milk. She's like oh, you did. I passed the coffee back through the window. Here's a key point here, folks. I passed the coffee back through the window. I said also for whatever it's worth, I'll drink that if it was right. But I ordered an ice coffee. I ordered a large ice coffee with oat milk. She's like oh, really you did.
Speaker 1:Turns around and goes, oh, and then surprisingly hands my coffee through the window Large ice coffee. Oh, it was right, there Must have grabbed the wrong coffee. Fine, whatever, I don't know what you were giving me for a sales pitch on the unlabeled hot coffee. That clearly wasn't right anyways. So I take the iced coffee.
Speaker 1:I've now been in line at Dunkin' Donuts for over 30 minutes right, we're talking 33, 35 minutes just to get a coffee. Through the drive-thru lane, baby's fussing and freaking out. I pull out of there, I take one sip off the coffee and I go son of a sea biscuit. This is not right. I look at it. This is milk, not oat milk. I've waited for 35 freaking minutes. I'm not going to drink this cup of coffee. I turn around, I go back. I should have gone inside.
Speaker 1:When I rolled up I saw there was only like one or two cars in the entire drive-thru. So instead of getting out it's cold, it's windy, the baby's fussy I just go back to the drive-thru lane and I get to the window and I tell him hey, you know I ordered a coffee. This is what happened. You know I have the wrong one. All right, come on up, I'll give you one. Wait again, get to the window.
Speaker 1:We're now at a point where we've spent about 45 minutes in the drive-thru lane to get two frigging coffees, correct. Okay. So this is your third attempt at my coffee, because you tried to give me a hot coffee Wrong. Gave me an iced coffee Wrong. You go to give me a hot coffee wrong. Gave me an iced coffee wrong. You go to give me a coffee out the window. That's a small, like full cream iced coffee, not the right coffee. Third mistake realizes, puts that down, goes to give me the correct coffee. She goes. Here you go.
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh thanks, can you take this for me? I don't have any room and and I go to pass the Mistaked coffee, the mistaken, the mix-up, the mess-up, the shitty coffee they gave me. Right, I can't take that. I'm sorry, what I'm not going to take, that You're not going to take the coffee back. No, I can't take that.
Speaker 1:And I said, well, I don't have any room in here. Can you please just take the coffee? What? I don't have any room in here. Can you please just take the coffee? What do you mean? You don't have any room. I don't have any cup holders. I have a baby here. She has her hands full. I can't drive with two coffees. Can you please just take this coffee? And she says, no, you can throw it in the trash. And I said, well, I'd love to do that, but you removed the trash can. Mind you, where I'm parked? Right, you know?
Speaker 1:Eight paces ahead, there is a spot where there's been a trash can since this Dunkin' Donuts was built when I was 10 years old. Okay, it's been there the entire time. They recently took it out of the ground. It was one of the ones that had like a, you know, like a rock structure around it. Whatever, they removed it no more trash can. I said, yeah, but you guys removed the trash can, so there is no trash can on my way out of here. I don't have any room.
Speaker 1:This was a mix up. I have two coffees. Can you please just throw it out? She goes. Well, you passed a trash can on the way to me. Okay, disclaimer I'm about to start swearing. Okay, I'm about to start swearing. I'm gonna put it out there.
Speaker 1:Dunkin Donuts drive-thru lady. You passed a trash can on the way to me. Are you fucking serious? You want me to get back in this long ass drive-thru lane just to throw a coffee in there that you messed up? You want me to get in line to use a fucking trash can for a coffee that you fucked up? That's what you want me to do right now. And she starts giving me an attitude well, I'm not taking it. You can find a trash can. I said. You want me to find a trash can. I'll find your fucking trash. Can I roll forward, take that some bitch out the window and heave it back at the building? I smashed that thing off the side of the building, the window. There's ice, there's coffee. It's a large ice coffee freaking everywhere.
Speaker 1:We could have resolved this First off. I returned a coffee to you once already that you screwed up, that you put out the window and you brought back in the window. You're now telling me, 20 minutes later, on the same screwed up situation, that you can't do that. You're now telling me 20 minutes later, on the same screwed-up situation, that you can't do that and I'm telling you I don't have a place for it and you remove the trash can and you can't take that. Then you want to give me a sassy-ass attitude. I chuck that shit right back at your building.
Speaker 1:I pull out of the driveway, I am freaking out. I'm so pissed, I freaking out, I'm so pissed. I'm retelling the entire story to my mother, who, the saint, is sitting next to me. She's witnessed this whole thing, she's suffered through the whole thing. She doesn't need to know the details she was there for all of them, but she's letting me vent. Okay, I'm coming undone, I'm freaking out and I'm telling her the whole story. As soon as I calm down and I start to breathe, my mother being my ride or die just like me, raised me, understands me.
Speaker 1:This is an opportunity where, when I threw that coffee, most people next to me would have either freaked out oh my God, what are you doing? Oh, don't do that. Yell screamed, cussed you out for throwing it, or maybe laughed something. Nothing, not my mom, quiet and stoic like an oak. She lets me vent. We go down the road, I start to breathe and she literally says to me I'm still surprised you didn't throw it right back at her. I was like what I'm surprised you didn't throw it right back at her. I was like what I'm surprised you didn't hit her with it. And I just started laughing and I said you know me, because in that moment, number one, the baby's screaming.
Speaker 1:If I was more on my game and more focused, I would have gone down the road. If I'd been in this line for 40 minutes for you to screw this up, you've taken one back from the window. I would outline the whole scenario. I didn't do that. The other thing I would have done is I would have bounced that iced coffee off her face or off her chest, or I would have waited for her to move and I would have launched that sumbitch all the way across the showroom floor. So they would have spent the next 25 minutes cleaning it up. That's what I would have done. The younger me, the more ridiculous me would have done that. But my instant reaction was well, at least if I smash this thing off the window, you gotta go through with a goddamn ice scraper and clean it up. That was my philosophy, that was my plan.
Speaker 1:But I was a little disappointed in myself for not throwing it back in the window. I'll be honest, full confessional, full frontal confessional. I am a little bit pissed. I didn't just chuck it back in the window, because I've done that before, okay. But in hindsight, the thought process is there of you go to this dunkin donuts two times a day, twice a week. They probably would have just, they probably have your plates, they know the vehicle. They would have called me in for a salt with a deadly coffee.
Speaker 1:Okay, I would have been doing hard time over iced coffee. You know what I'm saying. That would have happened there's. You know we got presidents pardoning criminals and murderers and rapists and all this ridiculous stuff. But you know what? I would have been serving hard time, daddy, for some iced coffee. You understand what I'm saying. That's what would have happened. So I didn't throw it through there, I should have just dumped it all over the gosh dang counter. I should have done something. I'm still pissed about it. But what I did do was chuck that sumbitch back at the window, losing my ever loving mind. And hopefully they'd go through with a tiny ass safe scraper or a credit card and scrape that shit off the side of the window. Gosh, damn it. Hallelujah. Where's the Tylenol Gut check? What about the latest kick? All right, all right, all right, we're back.
Speaker 1:Folks, thanks for hanging in there with me. I appreciate y'all letting me get that off my chest. I thank y'all, the members of the congregation, for being here for my full frontal confessional. I appreciate you, man. I might have been a little out of character today, but it brought me back. I almost relapsed into the old me, the lunatic me. You know what I'm saying, but I still get a little crazy. But I appreciate you listening. You know this event session that we just had. I thank you. I thank you.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's move on to bigger, bolder, beautiful, brighter things. Let's get on to the most important thing. Last week it was New Year's Eve. I was joined by my beautiful wife and we were recording a nice fun little episode on, you know getting ready for the new year, asking yourself questions like what you're going to do different, how you're going to be better, doing a little Q&A Seshwan, and one of the things that came up was identifying a guiding word.
Speaker 1:I've heard from a few of you out there about your guiding words. I appreciate you. I encourage you, if you have not already done so, to identify that word. Send me a message, let me know what it is, what it means to you. Let's talk about it. Let's talk through it. Okay, let's get this rocking and rolling. For those of you that might be hearing this for the first time and you're asking yourself self what is this guy talking about? Or you're a day one. You've been listening this entire time. You can still use a little refresher course. So still use a little refresher course. So real quick.
Speaker 1:For the ladies in the back, a guiding word is a word that can help you focus on your intentions for the year ahead. It can be a word that you want to work on or something you need more of. The goal is to use the word to guide your actions and unify your goals that make sense. Guys, here are some tips for choosing your guiding word. Focus on how you want to feel rather than what you want to accomplish. Choose a word that will help you eliminate distractions and improve your focus. Consider choosing a word that will help you focus on what's within your control. Make sure you are thinking about your values, intentions and goals for 2025. There's a difference between values, intentions and goals. Your values are what is important to you, what you believe in. Your intentions are what you want to achieve. They are influenced by your values, and your goals are external proof of, or steps towards, that achievement.
Speaker 1:Is that painting a picture for you guys? Are we, you know, relighting the fire from last week or am I creating a new desire for this week? We are trying to identify our guiding word, if we have not already done so. Once you identify that guiding word, I want you to live by that guiding word to fully feel its impact. Visibly displaying your guiding word and vision board so you can be reminded of it each and every day. Finding quotes around your word or topic to reread for inspiration. Incorporating your guiding word into questions when making decisions or considering old habits. For example, if your word was thrive, you might ask is spending three hours on social media each day helping me thrive. Set a reminder on your phone for a couple of months time to check in with your word. That is a two minute refresher course of last week's question of identifying our guiding words.
Speaker 1:Last week, my words that I gave to you was sacrifice, which led me to the word courage, and the quote that I used last week for courage is that courage is the commitment to begin without any guarantee of success. Courage was my word. Courage is the word that I want to lean into, that I want to live up to for 2025. As we were giving some of these little food for thoughts, these little things about you know always asking yourself when you're making decisions, am I living by my guiding word? I'm saying all this to paint the picture so that we can pave the road on me implementing courage for the year 2025, and how, in one week's time, since last week's episode where we worked through this exercise and I identified to you courage my guiding word for this year, I am already making decisions and acting by courage, and I am here to prove it to you by grand fashion.
Speaker 1:Y'all ready for this? Are you ready for this? I don't know if you're ready for this. Okay, well, hopefully you are. I mean you must be, because you haven't hung up yet, right, you haven't changed a dial and you haven't shut me off. You haven't turned me off, tuned me out, pushed me out. You are still here. I thank you for still being here. Okay, courage, I want to use this in my everyday life.
Speaker 1:We talked about, on the family aspect, having the courage to be a dad, to do things for the first time, to be okay with failing every time. I also want to use courage in my business, taking leaps of faith, having the courage to take chances to embark on things I talked about. You know, for the business, I need to leave the house. I need to get out of my comfort zone, I need to get out of my own state, I need to take some chances, but it becomes a sacrifice because I need to sacrifice time away from my family. It's so much more difficult for me to decide on driving across country when I'm leaving my four-month baby girl at home, but I need to live by courage. So I spent a lot of time asking myself are you acting with great courage? Now there's a few things that the business has been working through. We have been spending a lot of time trying to analyze what is our next big move, what is our bold move over the winter, and if you guys were listening, if you're a day one, if you've been around since you know July 2020, you've been listening to all these episodes.
Speaker 1:Last year around this time, I actually flew out with a great friend of mine, mr Matt Perkins from Ledgeway Farm, and we stayed at his family's house, at JW's and Crystal's house, and we went to Strawberry Fest in Plant City, florida, and we checked that out and we tried to explore other avenues for us, Strawberry Fest kind of being a home run, that being an event that appears to be extremely difficult to get into. Matt from Ledgeway Farm and my brother from another mother, kyle from Underdog Meadow. They are both going to the Tampa State Fair. This year. They're heading out to Tampa and I've spent a lot of time thinking about whether I should be branching out from just fairs.
Speaker 1:Now, florida full confessional here. If I take the Cabela's catalog and place my left hand on it and beat a little ice to the sky and I make the confession, I'm not that comfortable in Florida. Okay, I'm not a big vacation person in general. When it comes to going places other than two places, I love going to Tennessee and I love going to Texas, but I also know that Florida is a great land of opportunity for me. It seems like there's a lot of like-minded folks when it comes to Florida and Loud Proud American, a lot of people there that are very prideful of their country and they appreciate American made and they're willing to support American made. So I've identified Florida as also being a state that is thriving when my home state is um hybridating Okay During these winter months. So I've identified the fact that I need to be in Florida Now.
Speaker 1:For me it came down to a couple of things. Strawberry Fest was the one that I really wanted to do, but option B would be the Tampa state fair where my friends are already going. There's a comfort level there and, knowing that you could travel with two friends, you can get down there and have support. You know you could have people to lean into. You can have, you know people to help pick you up and you know. And then just the everyday stuff of you know bathroom breaks and places to stay and commuting and all those things right. But I've also given a lot of thought to the fact that maybe state fairs aren't all I should be doing.
Speaker 1:I spend a great deal of my time at fairs and another thing that I spend a lot of my time at is motorcycle-related events and I'm received very well at both of those. I'm received very well at fairs in my state here in Maine and I've also been received very well doing motorcycle events like here at Bentley Saloon. Now if you don't know me, then you don't know that I have nearly 15 years of motorcycle experience when it comes to being in that industry, when it comes to working in the power sports industry and right before starting Loud Proud American, I had worked my way from a sales guy all the way up to an owner of a Harley-Davidson dealership. So I've got a great deal of experience in this area. Now when I left that dealership, when they decided to sell the dealership and I didn't have enough ownership to have a say about it, I really wanted to get away from that part of my life. So I haven't leaned into those type of events as much as I could for my business, because they really do go hand in hand. But I have been successful with doing those things here at Bentley Saloon.
Speaker 1:I'm saying all this to kind of give you guys a little insight, to kind of peel back the curtain a little bit, to peel the onion, to let you know what I've been thinking about. And I say all this to tell you I've been making this inner debate. I've been asking myself what's best for me, what's best for the brand. I've been asking any resource I have about these events. If this is right, where should I be? I've gotten mixed info from resources on whether either one of these are good for me, right?
Speaker 1:I've talked to people that tell me hey, that state fair is your wheelhouse, it's your people, it's going to be great. I've talked to vendors that have been there and said I didn't make any money there for the past few years. I've broken even. Or if I had to travel as far as you, I just wouldn't do it. If I, you know I'm here because I, you know I live locally, right? I've talked to people that have said that to me. So you beat that around in your head and then you come down to the other elephant in the room and that is Daytona Bike Week. And I have some fellow vendors that live in Florida that go to this event, that have been regulars of this event for multiple years.
Speaker 1:As vendors I've had a multitude of customers tell me if you get to Daytona you will kill it. I've talked to vendors on the ground at Daytona that have compared my numbers there with my numbers here in Maine and they tell me they're probably going to land somewhat similar. That scares me because there's a great deal of doubt in doing this. There's a great layer of fear in doing this If I'm traveling all the way to Daytona. There's all these factors that go into this. Right, we're talking nearly 1,400 miles one way, 2,800 miles round trip in a school bus by yourself, 10 miles a gallon, right. We're talking average gas, maybe $1,200, just in fuel. We're talking about the cost of food. We're talking about your vendor place and the fact that you're making the decision to sleep in a bus, like all these things.
Speaker 1:Right, everything goes into this. And if you sacrifice two weeks away from your family, 20 plus hours each way on the road by yourself, running this event by yourself, doing all these things, having all these challenges, there's a lot of fear that goes into this. There's a lot of self-doubt that goes into this. There's a lot of self-sabotage that can happen, where you can talk yourself in and out of these decisions in a multitude of ways right, and I put myself out there to certain things and I haven't really heard back on these things. But I sat back and I asked myself are you acting with courage? Are you living by your guiding word? Are you fulfilling your word of courage? Are you being courageous right now in your decisions? And the answer was no, not enough. I'm putting myself out there, but I'm not following through. I'm not pushing through. So I am proud to tell you that I pushed through. I used all the courage I had. I've acted courageously in a beautiful, beautiful little way. You're beautiful, you're courageous, you're great. Okay, I'm here to tell you right now, one week later, after identifying my guiding word, asking myself if I'm living by courage, I can proudly tell you that I heard back today.
Speaker 1:Your boy has been accepted to Daytona Bike Week. Oh, there he is again. Look at him Clap, clap, clap. Oh yes, oh, I'm so proud of you. Look at you, oh, you're so cute. Look at you, you proud of yourself. You should be, you should be. Look at him, oh, he's so cute. Oh, yes, that's my Eddie Murphy congratulations, because there's nobody else here. Man, I got a couple of dogs staring at me, actually, one of them staring at the wall. The other one's looking at me like I'm clueless. Hey, press, how you doing? I'm by myself right now, okay, and I'm just. I got nobody else to encourage me right now. So we're going to channel the nutty professor, we're going to bring Eddie Murphy in here and he's going to encourage us and say I'm so proud of you, baby, look at him, his pudgy little fist. Oh yeah, still proud of you. I'm going to be telling myself that the whole time I'm driving by myself through the night, I'm proud of you. Keep going. All things considered, y'all putting it all out there, I am proud to tell you we have kicked down the door on our comfort zone. We are headed to Daytona. Man, it almost seems crazy to put it out there, to put it into existence, to speak it into existence, to let y'all know we are taking on the biggest challenge of our business's history.
Speaker 1:The brand Loud Proud American is going on the road in a grand fashion, and the courage to make this decision, to double down, to bet on ourselves, to take the leap of faith, has inspired me to write my calendar in a very courageous way being strategic about what I'm doing and how I'm doing it, but challenging my business and my brain to do vastly different things than I've been doing. I look forward to sharing with you some bucket list opportunities that I am going to try to attack for my business this year. I am attempting to do some things that are going to require a lot of pushing, a lot of begging, certainly amounts of praying and pulling on some connections and some strings, but I have a few things that I'm looking forward to do this year. I've made the decision in my mind that this can be a make it or break it year for Loud, proud American. We brought in the building. We're going to need to work on that, get that up into production and get that up and running, get us organized. I'm taking a lot of time right now to slow down and work on organization because, with these big things to happen, I need to streamline my process. I've been revamping the office. I got a desk for the wife. She's coming in to help. I'm doing all these different things. I'm getting the office on lockdown. Then we're moving to the building and we're doing those things. We're making more of a production system, more of an inventory, checks and balance system. We're doing all these things to get organized to get ready to take on the biggest year for Loud Proud American.
Speaker 1:Last year was the first time in the history of our business that we did not experience growth. Last year was the first year in our history where we did not expand our business. When it comes to a gross sales number, we did not achieve greater growth year over year. When it comes to a net sales number, we didn't lose by much. We were only off by a couple of thousands of dollars. And I know that we were off because we took a lot of things off our schedule, because we were preparing for the birth of our first child.
Speaker 1:And to do it all over again? If I was asked to do it all over again, I'd do the same damn thing because that's what I needed to do for my family and the fact that we came oh so close to matching the previous year, to beating the previous year. I'm still proud of that. But I'm also here to tell you I am hell-bent and determined to destroy all previous years this year. We are going for it this year and I have made a decision in my mind and don't forget that decision comes from the Latin word incision, which means to cut off, to mean that it is a final choice.
Speaker 1:I made the decision that this year is a make it or break it year. We are going to challenge ourselves this year. We are putting ourselves in a position that in the next few years we won't have to travel so much. I will sacrifice now because I am courageous enough to make those sacrifices. You understand Hot diggity. Damn, I'm excited, y'all I'm excited. I'm nervous Shitting rocks over here, but I'm proud. I'm proud of the position we put ourselves in and I have grand illusions in my mind about what I can do when I go down there. I've talked to other vendors that have set my expectation that those numbers in my mind about what I can do when I go down there. I've talked to other vendors that have set my expectation that those numbers in my mind probably aren't attainable. But I'm going down there knowing what I should do, but also encouraged by what I'm capable of doing. Okay. So I truly feel I can go down there and do something special. So we're getting ready to go down there and do something special.
Speaker 1:While preparing for these decisions and writing out my goals and my aspirations, while starting to think about those things and forecast my year, I've really leaned into courage and, as we talked about, when we go back to some of the tips from last week, we said visibly displaying your guiding word, finding quotes around your word to read or reread for inspiration. One of those things, here we go Finding more courage, quotes and articles. To go back to, courage is the choice to face pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation and make good choices in the face of fear or obstacles. Let me spell it out for you one more time Courage is the choice to face pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation and make good choices in the face of fear or obstacles. When I made the choice to go to Daytona, that for me is uncertainty. That for me is intimidation. I'm intimidated by this trip. I'm intimidated by the journey. It's something that is completely uncertain doing these things on your own. There is a great level of danger when it comes to traveling on your own and doing these things. There's fear of the unknown, but I'm making good choices, I'm setting myself up to be successful. I'm making the right choices in the face of the fear and the obstacles.
Speaker 1:The word courage comes from the Latin word core, which means heart, and one of its earliest forms, the word courage, meant to speak one's mind by telling all one's heart. In one of its earliest forms, the word courage meant to speak one's mind by telling all one's heart. I did not know last week that courage came from the Latin word cor, which by definition means heart. That in itself has confirmed to me that I have chosen the right word, because I need a great deal of heart to do what I need to do this year. Now, when, doing a little bit of research on courage and kind of leaning into this and developing our mission for this year, I had to ask myself how can I develop courage? How can I build courage? Is it possible to build layers of courage upon itself? Did a little research, I found an article, and the article starts off with the good news is that there are many ways to tap into our capacity for courage, whether we are adults or students. Here are six ways to build courage. You all ready, quick, hidden. Six quick tips to build some courage.
Speaker 1:Number one see yourself as courageous. First, if we describe ourselves as courageous, we are more likely to act courageous and many other ways. I've said this since day one perception is reality. Whatever you perceive to be shall be. If you believe yourself to be courageous, you shall be courageous. I am speaking courageous into existence. See yourself as courageous. Number two here's one that came in big for this move Get comfortable with mistakes mistakes.
Speaker 1:We can recognize and celebrate courage with others, but it can also be a very internal, day-to-day experience. Research tells us that the fear of failure can negatively correlate with courage. But what if it's okay to make mistakes and they are even welcomed learning tools? You got to take chances. You got to be okay with making mistakes. In the beginning of starting this business, mistakes paralyzed me. I was afraid to present to the public the things I were creating because I made mistakes. It was paralyzing. You get stuck in quicksand. You just can't move. The fear of failure can just blossom into greater layers of failure. It can keep you from even trying, and that fear of failure was one of the things that was keeping me from taking this trip to Daytona. Number three keep trying. Courage at work also requires perseverance. You need to keep applying, you need to keep trying, you need to keep pushing. You need to continue to put yourself in situations where you need to be courageous. Number four look for the heroes. Of course we are feeling apathetic, anxious or fearful about stepping up and doing that next best thing in life.
Speaker 1:It can be helpful to draw inspiration from others, whether near or far, real or fictional. I'm a huge believer in this. This is why I listen to so many audio books, why I get into so many different speeches, presentations on YouTube, videos, inspirational books. I look for all these things. Try to find these heroes, these motivators. But you can also find people in your life that are role models and heroes to you, that are doing something you want to do. They're trying, at a level maybe greater than you Think about. The people that are in your little world, that are doing things that you inspire or aspire to do. Use them as inspiration. I just told you I got two friends heading to Florida themselves. Why not draw inspiration and motivation from them? I might not be going with them, but I can still be motivated by them. So, near and far people in your life, people you want to be in your life. You can look for inspiration on the internet YouTube, on Audible, all those things right. Or you can, you know, read about them, or you can find them in your day-to-day life.
Speaker 1:Number five clarify your values. You may recognize heroism or courage in others, but sometimes struggle to see it in yourself. If so, it may be helpful to ask yourself a few key questions what do I value in myself, what do I stand for, what is important to me, and what are some of my successes and accomplishments? This all comes back to perception. Is reality? Whatever I perceive to be shall be so if you can find things that you value about yourself, find things that you stand for, that you believe in those core values for you, identify what is important to you, live by those things, celebrate your small victories, cherish those successes. What are your accomplishments? Outline those things. You are building layers of courage by doing this. And number six, become part of a social force of courage. Finally, we can act on our values in community. This podcast right here is our community Share. The Struggle podcast is a positive tribe with a positive vibe.
Speaker 1:I started this show off on an impromptu rant about whether this show would continue. Up to rant about whether this show would continue. The reason why this show has stayed for 235 weeks is because I truly believe that this is a force of courage, that this is our community. We have core values. We establish values to live by, to strive by, to encourage others to live and strive by. This is our community.
Speaker 1:I hope and pray I continue to hear from each and every one of you. I hope and pray that you can share today's show with somebody close to you that can benefit from this show. Encourage friends and family to find guiding words. Encourage them to live and act by those guiding words and come back and share those guiding words. This is an opportunity for us to make a greater, more successful, positive, valuable tribe for ourselves a strong, forceful community. You understand what I'm saying. We are onto something, we are building something. I hope and pray we can make this podcast week to week to week for another four years, five years, 10 years, just like the past four nearly five years we already have under our belts. This is our community. I hope that we can continue to grow this community. I truly know that there is strength in our struggle and that is why we are sharing our struggles and our journeys. I am about to embark on one of the biggest journeys of my life and the biggest challenge for my business when I take Loud Proud American to Daytona Bike Week in 2025. And I will do so because I choose to live courageously and I encourage each and every one of you to do the same.
Speaker 1:I thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your bucket hands, you filthy savage. That's it and that's all Biggie Smalls. If you're a loud, proud American and you find yourself just wanting more, find me on YouTube and Facebook at loud, proud American, or the FacePage, as my mama calls it. If you're a fan of the Graham Cracker and want to find me on Instagram or all the kids are tickety-talking on the TikTok, or all the kids are tickety-talking on the TikTok, you can find me on both of those. At loud, underscore, proud, underscore, american. A big old thank you to the boys from the gut truckers for the background beats and the theme song for this year's podcast. If you are enjoying what you're hearing, you can track down the gut truckers on facebook. Just search gut truckers. Give them, motherfuckers, a like too. I truly thank you for supporting my American dream. Now go wash your fucking hands, you filthy savage.